I am looking into an 07-14 Escalade as the title states. I just had my 4th kid so I need a family car that can fit everyone. I currently have a 13 F150 FX4 crew which suits 5 of us fine but not 6. Either way what I'd really like is a 12+ premium as I love the dual exhaust and monotone paint. However, I was wondering how these vehicle hold up and what typical issues are as I am finding myself looking at some very clean and straight 07-08 Escalades for 20-22K. The catch is a little older and high miles so I was wondering how overall they have held up? I don't need every option or luxury I just simply love the style and power of the Escalade and Yukon Denali for if I can get myself into a reliable one at half the price as I was thinking then I would like some education and feedback on the years and wear before I make my decision. Thanks!
potential buyer of an 07-14 Escalade
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Honestly it depends how good of a mechanic you are and if the previous owner took care of it they are reliable but when something goes bad it cost good money to fix if your good with cars and don't mind getting your hands dirty every once and a while you'll save a lot of money and if you keep its maitenence up to date and take care of it and the last owner did too then yes it will last a long time I've seen one with 360,000 miles on it never had anything big happen to it and it was still selling for 18k
Overall great truck. I'm excited every time I get in it. The performance and look are everything I want in a full-size suv. The only thing I would caution you on is when buying any first year complete redesign (2007 for the GMT900 platform - Escalade, Tahoe, Yukon) there will be some bugs. That's with any automaker, the first year always sees things they fix in the following years. I own a 2008 Escalade and love it. It's had it's hiccups here and there, but I haven't spent anywhere near the price difference had I bought a 2009 or newer. For some reason, when buying a used Cadillac people expect them to be perfect. It's not going to happen, with any luxury vehicle. The great thing with the Escalade is that if something does go wrong you can fix it with Tahoe or Yukon parts for cheap, seeing as they share the same platform. Like I said, I've only had some small hiccups. Only one bigger cost and that was replacing my oil pan gasket and rear main seal gasket (7 yrs old with 110k miles, so that was normal to replace in my eyes).
It also depends on how it was cared for by the previous owner. Make sure you get a report of any warranty work done as well as the build sheet (can get from a GM dealer). Any other service records are a bonus.
Things to inspect when looking at an Escalade:
- Bad motor mounts. Put in drive and hold brake then do short bursts of acceleration while still holding brake. If there's a thud or shutter it's most likely a bad motor mount. You can also test with shifting into different gears and watching for the engine to jump or rock.
- Listen closely to it on a cold start up. Any ticks or knocks that don't go away after a few minutes should be noted. Some noise on initial start-up is normal.
- Push every single button and make sure it works. Sounds weird, but these vehicles have a LOT of options/electronics. Make sure they all work.
Can't go wrong with the Esky. Family will love it. Might want to look at an Escalade ESV as well. It's the "Suburban" of Escalades so it's longer in the back end for more storage.
It also depends on how it was cared for by the previous owner. Make sure you get a report of any warranty work done as well as the build sheet (can get from a GM dealer). Any other service records are a bonus.
Things to inspect when looking at an Escalade:
- Bad motor mounts. Put in drive and hold brake then do short bursts of acceleration while still holding brake. If there's a thud or shutter it's most likely a bad motor mount. You can also test with shifting into different gears and watching for the engine to jump or rock.
- Listen closely to it on a cold start up. Any ticks or knocks that don't go away after a few minutes should be noted. Some noise on initial start-up is normal.
- Push every single button and make sure it works. Sounds weird, but these vehicles have a LOT of options/electronics. Make sure they all work.
Can't go wrong with the Esky. Family will love it. Might want to look at an Escalade ESV as well. It's the "Suburban" of Escalades so it's longer in the back end for more storage.
Oh and another note - I was only looking at used Tahoes and Yukons before a GM tech I know mentioned used Escalades aren't priced much higher. I actually found one for CHEAPER than all the Tahoes and Yukons within a 400 mile radius of me. Absolutely worth it. Esky's have a larger, higher resolution nav screen than Tahoes/Yukons. As well, the interior quality is better (more soft leather/foam vs. hard plastic). I don't have kids though, so I wasn't worried about it being beat up.
I tend to agree with the notion of staying away from the first model years of a redesign (in this case 07, possibly even 08). That being said, I picked up an '07 about 2 years ago and haven't experienced any major issues after putting on 40-50k miles and the truck now being over 100k. Mechanically, it's been solid but with so many electronics and gizmos you're bound to run into some issues. I haven't run into any major issues but I've had to replace the front impact sensors (common, will cause a "service air bag message" in the DIC), and my rear suspension compressor just failed (causing "service suspension system" message in the DIC). But other than that, it's been mechanically sound through two bad winters here in the mid-atlantic and not being garaged.
FWIW, you might be better off looking at 2010's and above...they added a slew of features for model year '09 and most of them as standard (power tilt steering wheel, blind zone monitoring, bluetooth, XM nav traffic, magnetic ride control, etc) and for model year 2010 they added active fuel management and a USB port (many of us wish we had this) for added peripheral support. Hope this helps!
FWIW, you might be better off looking at 2010's and above...they added a slew of features for model year '09 and most of them as standard (power tilt steering wheel, blind zone monitoring, bluetooth, XM nav traffic, magnetic ride control, etc) and for model year 2010 they added active fuel management and a USB port (many of us wish we had this) for added peripheral support. Hope this helps!
Thanks everyone. I'm 70% likely to buy slightly newer and certified so I have some coverage and piece of mind. If I can find a older, high mileage, one owner with service records etc for a sub 25K final price then great. A denali is also neck and neck with the escalade for me but I lean towards the styling of the escalade a bit more. Comparable denali's seem to be around 3K less in the used market so I'll have to see.
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